Bulldogs Break Team Home Run Record in Doubleheader Sweep at Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Yale baseball team
hit five home runs on Friday- bringing its season total to a
program-record 43 roundtrippers- en route to sweeping Ivy League
foe Brown by scores of 15-9 and 9-3. Sophomore Charlie Neil and
junior Andrew Kolmar each had five RBI in the doubleheader;
Neil's long home run was the record-breaking shot, while
Kolmar hit his second grand slam of the season. Senior Trygg
Larsson-Danforth, junior Andy Megee and freshman Cam Squires also
went yard for the Elis. Junior left-handers Brook Hart and Vinny
Lally got the wins on the mound, while senior right-hander Robert
Gruber earned a save in game one.

With the sweep, Yale moves to 20-21-1 overall and 7-11 in Ivy
League play. The Bulldogs had not taken both ends of the annual
twinbill in Providence since the 1997 season. The Bears dropped to
12-29 on the season with a 9-9 mark against Ancient Eight
competition and were officially eliminated from Red Rolfe Division
Championship contention. Dartmouth (11-5) will repeat as division
champions unless they are swept in a four-game set by Harvard (8-8)
starting tomorrow.

“I'm very proud of how we played today,” said
Mazzuto Family Head Coach John Stuper. “We're out of
the [Ivy League] race, but we haven't stopped giving it our
all. We swept a very good team in the toughest visitors' park
in the league. This is the kind of production and attitude that
will lead to success going into next season.”

The 2010 Bulldogs add a program-record 43 home runs to their 106
doubles, 688 total bases and 42 double plays turned, all of which
are the most in a single-season in Yale baseball history, which
dates back to 1865. Yale needs just six hits in its final two games
to top the mark of 434 set by the 2008 team.

Larsson-Danforth's home run was his 11th of the season,
which moves him up to fourth place on Yale's single season
list. Ryan Lavarnway hit a team-record 14 home runs in 2007.
Yale's 6'6” lefty slugger is also tied for eighth
on the single-season lists for doubles (15) and runs batted in
(43).

Junior designated hitter Trey Rallis, already the single-season
leader in doubles, hit his 19th two-bagger as a part of a 4-for-8,
four RBI afternoon on Friday. Rallis is batting .545 (18-for-33) in
the Bulldogs' last eight games to raise his season average to
.359.

On the mound, Hart was the benefactor of an early 10-0 lead in
game one en route to earning his third win of the season. Gruber
maintained his 0.00 ERA in Ivy League competition with three
scoreless innings to pick up his first career save.

Lally earned his Ivy League-leading seventh win of the season
with an eight-inning gem in the nightcap. The junior southpaw threw
133 pitches, scattering 10 hits and three earned runs. In his last
two starts, Lally has allowed just four earned runs in 15.0 innings
of work.

“For Vinny to pitch that well in a hitters' park
with the wind blowing out all day is outstanding,” said
Stuper.

Yale wasted no time getting on the board in game one, as Squires
sent the first pitch from Brown right-hander Kevin Carlow over the
wall in left field for a lead-off home run. Two batters later,
Larsson-Danforth took a 2-2 pitch over the scoreboard in right
field to put the Bulldogs on top, 2-0.

After Hart tossed two scoreless frames, the Bulldogs posted
eight tallies in the top of the third inning to grab a comfortable
10-0 edge. Schmidt drew a walk to lead off the frame, and Squires
followed by dropping a sacrifice bunt and reaching on a fielding
error by Carlow. Elmore then walked to load the bases, but Carlow
got the next two batters to nearly get out of the jam. The next
batter was Rallis, who came through with a two-out single to score
two. Neil beat out an infield hit to drive another run, and Brenner
singled to reload the bases. Kolmar then cleared the bases with
authority, hitting his second grand slam of the season to put Yale
on top, 9-0. Schmidt then continued the inning by reaching base for
the second time with a double, and Squires capped the two-out rally
with an RBI single through the left side of the infield.

The Bears took four back in their half of the third frame,
highlighted by a three-run homer from Pete Greskoff, but Yale got
one back in its next at-bat. Neil picked up the RBI on a sacrifice
fly that scored Larsson-Danforth, who had doubled and moved to
third on a Rallis single. Yale added two more in the next frame,
courtesy of a two-run shot by Megee.

Brown posted five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, as
roundtrippers by Greskoff, Ryan Zrenda and Mike DiBiase closed the
book on Hart. Senior right-hander Robert Gruber came on in relief
and ended the threat, with Yale now holding a 13-9 advantage.

The Bulldogs would fight back with a pair of runs in their next
at-bat. Schmidt starting the scoring with a two-out double to score
Rallis, and Squires beat out a seemingly routine groundball to the
shortstop that allowed Brenner to come home.

The 15-9 tally proved to be the final, as Gruber hurled a
perfect sixth and scoreless seventh to close out the victory.

Hart (3-3) allowed nine earned runs and eight hits over four
innings to earn the win. He struck out three batters and walked
three. Gruber fired three scoreless frames of relief, allowing one
hit and walking two, to record his first save of the season.

Carlow (4-3) allowed 11 runs, though just three were earned, and
nine hits in 3.2 frames to take the loss. He walked four batters,
struck out four and threw a wild pitch.

Yale jumped on the Bears in the first inning again in game two,
as Squires set the table with a walk. Two batters later, Megee
doubled to the gap in left centerfield and the speedy leadoff
hitter came all the way around to score the game's first run.
Larsson-Danforth and Rallis followed with back-to-back singles,
with Rallis' base-knock bringing Megee home. After Neil drew
a walk to load the bases, Brenner was hit by a pitch to push
another tally across and give the Bulldogs a quick 3-0 lead.

After a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cody Slaughter put Brown on
the board in the bottom of the second inning, both Lally and Brown
starter Will Weidig traded zeroes until the top of the fifth frame.
After an error and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Yale in
that inning, a Neil sacrifice fly and back-to-back singles by
Brenner and Kolmar extended the Bulldogs' lead to 6-1.

Brown would inch closer in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI
double from Chris Tanabe, but Lally was able to battle back induce
a Josh Feit fly-out to close out the seventh inning.

The Bulldogs took that run back for the junior southpaw in the
top of the eighth inning, as Megee doubled with one out and then
came home on a two-out two-bagger from Rallis. Neil followed with
the record-breaking home run- a two-run shot that ran the score to
9-2.

The Bears got on the board again in the eighth off of Lally, but
the southpaw got out of the jam again, inducing a 4-6-3 double play
to quell the threat with Yale still leading comfortably, 9-3. That
tally would prove to be the final, as sophomore right-hander Eric
Shultz tossed a hitless ninth to finish off the road sweep.

Lally (7-2) registered the victory, while Weidig (3-4) allowed
six runs (three earned) on six hits and eight walks in six innings
to take the loss.

The Bulldogs and Bears will wrap-up their respective seasons
tomorrow afternoon at Yale Field. First pitch of the twinbill is
slated for 1 p.m. Yale will honor its six-member class of 2010:
Gruber, Larsson-Danforth, Chris Finneran, Stephen Miehls, Matthew
Smith and captain Joe Castaldi.